100-plus companies in China city found releasing unprocessed gas

More than 100 small flooring companies in a city in heavily polluted northeast China were found to be discharging unprocessed exhaust gas, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The violators, located in the city of Fushun in Liaoning Province, were exposed in an inspection targeting ten cities in Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, northeastern provinces hard hit by air pollution since early this month.

"Many problems affecting air quality were found in some enterprises, especially in small-scale companies and coal-burning heating units," said Zou Shoumin, head of the ministry's environmental inspection bureau, on Thursday.

Emergency responses for heavy air pollution in China require limiting road traffic and halting construction projects and factory production. However, Zou noted that many enterprises and construction sites were found to be operating normally.

Local environmental protection departments have been urged to punish violators and oversee their rectification, Zou added, without specifying how they will be punished.

On Monday, when the inspection started, the maximum hourly reading for PM2.5, airborne particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter, hit 860 micrograms per cubic meter in Changchun, capital of Jilin. The World Health Organization sets the maximum for human health at 25 micrograms on average over a 24-hour period.

The ministry forecast that heavy pollution in the region will last until this weekend. Endi